In 2026, investors with experience in the cryptocurrency industry will understand that the large price movements occur very often due to the action of a few very large holders of that coin known as "whales". These individuals or groups of people (such as institutions, early investors, or high-net-worth individuals) are the only ones capable of determining prices through their respective buy or sell decisions. Retail vendors should look for signs of accumulation by "whales", so that they can position themselves to gain maximum benefit from any price increase.
Blockchain has become vastly superior in its ability to provide transparency via on-chain analytics and allows you to see whale activity quickly and identify patterns of accumulation as they occur. This comprehensive resource contains detailed explanations of how to identify actual "whale" accumulation, what tools to use, the strategies that will allow you to capitalise on accumulation and many of the common errors associated with accumulation (for example, false signals and false data).
A crypto whale is an organization that owns a significant quantity of a particular cryptocurrency. In 2026, significant dollar amounts have been reported for institutions and various types of investors building positions in Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) by following the ongoing volume developments on-chain.
What do whale behaviors mean to the market?
Whale transactions can provide important signals about market conditions and trends.
Whale accumulation patterns can be identified by evaluating average transaction values and behaviors within their respective wallets on the blockchain.
Pay attention to these on-chain indicators:
Exchange Outflows: When tokens move from centralized exchanges such as LBank to self-custody wallets, it signals an intention to hold for the long term and indicates a reduction in the sell-side pressure.
Increasing Large Wallets: When there are more wallets that contain large quantities such as “thousands” of BTC, it demonstrates an increasing level of confidence.
Large Low Volatility Buys: Buying $10 million or more in asset(s) at a time during “quiet times” has shown to be a strategic accumulation method based on the established patterns in whale wallets.
Healthy distribution: There is an increase in the number of unique wallets while there is not extreme concentration that indicates there is a healthy growth cycle. An asset that is held mostly by a small number of wallets (greater than 50%) can be risky.
Declining Exchange Reserves: As an example, Solana continues to see whales buy and accumulate in early 2026 even after experiencing a 46% price drop previously, indicating a renewed long-term accumulation interest.
Whale Tracking - Automated Tools In 2026:
Whale Alert, Santiment and Glassnode provide a variety of alerts for changes in whale reserves and activity.
Whale Alert, a real-time whale tracking service, provides information on million-dollar (or greater) trades made on multiple chains, such as Ethereum and Solana.
GeckoTerminal allows you to visualize and analyze whale clusters which represent different investment holdings across multiple chains, and identify the most likely healthy accumulation zones (i.e., areas with multiple whale holdings).
AI-based sentiment analysis and other analytics tools have been developed to help you verify the trends of whale activity.
For instance, the free resources offered by CoinGecko include APIs for coin generation and bubble maps of servers to display how many wallets are connected, while Nansen's subscription service offers a premium-grade product that identifies smart money signals with a 95% accuracy rate.
Best practice: Use at least two of these tools in combination to cross-check your whale tracking data. Start with exchange outflows and compare them to wallet tracking information.
They are helping with proactive decisions in the cryptocurrency markets by doing things to help them stay in front of their competition (e.g., whale alerting, confirming signals before accumulating, dollar cost averaging, diversifying across chains, planning for the future).
Examples from Solana whales that continued to accumulate after a 46% decline in 2025/2026.
A large percentage of 2026 signals appear to be promising, however can be confusing due to bots, pumps or policy changes.
There are key risks to keep in mind:
Ensure to:
Tracking whale accumulation in the fast-paced world of tomorrow's economy (2026) will give you the most significant advantage in the time of high volatility. You can anticipate rising prices by tracking the selling patterns, inflows, and using services such as Whale Alert. Whales acquire their investments slowly and methodically over time, so you should use this approach to attain long-term success.
Maintain your awareness of these trends and continue to monitor them regularly. Are you ready to make the next big move? Start tracking whales today so you are prepared when the opportunity arises.
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